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Mobile phones, just how did we live without them? At about 80 million, there are now more mobiles than people in the UK. But since the Nineties, when their use became more widespread, there have been nagging doubts about their safety.

The programme, jointly funded by the Government and the industry, concluded that mobile phones, base stations and masts 'have not been found to be associated with any biological or adverse health effects'.

However, according to a decade-long study, due out in the coming weeks, people who used mobiles for a decade or more had a 'significantly increased risk' of developing some types of brain tumours.

The Interphone study, partly funded by the mobile phone industry, found an increased risk of glioma - the most common brain tumour. This follows the results of an American-Korean study published a fortnight ago which showed that mobile use increases brain tumour risk by around 25 per cent. And a similar report from Australian scientists in July showed double the risk after ten years' use.

However, none of these reports included children - and they are the group experts are most worried about.